Swiss companies bemoan the loss of a reliable partner, and called the 32 percent tariff “incomprehensible.”
Of all the countries that expected to be immune to President Trump’s tariffs, Switzerland was at the top of the list.
The tiny Alpine nation, famous for its political neutrality, fine chocolates and precision watches, had eliminated industrial tariffs recently on all imports, including American goods. It has kept the European Union at arm’s length to avoid entanglement in trans-Atlantic trade fights. Swiss companies generate half a million jobs in the United States.
So when Mr. Trump imposed double-digit tariffs on Wednesday, no one was more surprised than the Swiss. Compounding the situation was that no one knew the exact amount: 31 percent or 32 percent. The White House and the U.S. Trade Representative published different numbers, and even the government in Bern was not clear.
“The U.S.A. has relied on its own calculations, which Switzerland cannot comprehend,” Karin Keller-Sutter, the Swiss president, told reporters on Thursday. She said that although Switzerland would not retaliate with tariffs of its own, officials would seek talks with Washington in hopes of bringing the rate down.
It was a classic display of sang-froid. And yet, the Swiss are indignant.
Switzerland’s levy is higher than that of the European Union, which was hit with a 20 percent tariff. And Britain is subject to a minimum tariff of 10 percent. That means that a Swiss chocolate bar or medical device exported to the United States would face a duty more than 20 percent higher than similar British-made products, a logic that the Swiss called “incomprehensible.”